A friend of mine who has skied for about 15 years at about 50 days a year
was in Mammoth last May, and said the same thing you just did.... The best
skiing day of his life. Man why did I decline going with him that weekend?

Anyhow, the board will probably be good for you. You say you want to take
it easy and not go too fast, and yet want to ride on top of the powder.
Hmm. In any event, the Donek will ride on top of the powder well, and its
pretty much a carving board at heart so you'll love it on the groomers, but
it does love to go fast - make no mistake. Of course you can always control
your speed for the most part with the angle of your traverses. I wouldn't
buy a lesser board so your equipment intentionally limits you. Buy
something to grow into that you can limit yourself on in the meantime. With
more years under your belt, your comfortable speed will go up and you'll be
glad you bought the right board.

Brian.


"Johnny1" wrote in message
news
Hi All,

My background: I ride about 10 days a year. I've been riding for five
year at this pace, and I've been an intermediate freerider almost the
whole time. I like powder and groomers the best, park and bumps the
least. For four years I've had a Burton Supermodel 62. This past May
at Mammoth I was having the best boarding day of my life, relaxed and
despite the icy conditions and everything was flowing. But I got
tired and started boarding with my legs too straight. Then I swerved
to avoid a skier and got launched over a bump, and tumbled. I
dislocated my right shoulder and subluxated my left shoulder (like a
partial discloation). This crash cost me $1000 in doctor/hospital
costs and also was a huge bummer to recover from.

Now I still want to board, but would like to take it easy. If I crash
hard and stick my arms out to break the fall, I'll dislocate again and
maybe need surgery. So I don't want to get high speeds. I just want
to have fun cruising the groomers making carves at slow speeds (if
that's possible), and enjoying the pow.

My question: I've had my eye on a Donek Wide 161 for a while. I'm
5"10, 175 with size 10 (sometimes 10.5) feet. I figured the 161 would
float me better in pow, even if I could get away with an Incline. I'd
be going from a very noodly board to a super stiff board. Will it be
the wrong board for what I want to do? Will it still be fun to ride
more slowly? I don't want a board mismatch.

Thanks for any opinions!

Johnny